IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 21 October 2008
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20080011549
THE BOARD CONSIDERED THE FOLLOWING EVIDENCE:
1. Application for correction of military records (with supporting documents provided, if any).
2. Military Personnel Records and advisory opinions (if any).
THE APPLICANT'S REQUEST, STATEMENT, AND EVIDENCE:
1. The applicant requests he be awarded the Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states he was wounded on in June or July 1967 when his compound came under mortar attack. He received shrapnel wounds to his right hand.
3. The applicant provides no supporting information.
CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:
1. Title 10, U.S. Code, section 1552(b), provides that applications for correction of military records must be filed within 3 years after discovery of the alleged error or injustice. This provision of law also allows the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) to excuse an applicants failure to timely file within the 3-year statute of limitations if the ABCMR determines it would be in the interest of justice to do so. While it appears the applicant did not file within the time frame provided in the statute of limitations, the ABCMR has elected to conduct a substantive review of this case and, only to the extent relief, if any, is granted, has determined it is in the interest of justice to excuse the applicants failure to timely file. In all other respects, there are insufficient bases to waive the statute of limitations for timely filing.
2. The applicant entered active duty on 4 January 1966, completed training, and was awarded the military occupational specialty (MOS) 72C (Telephone Switchboard Operator).
3. He served in Vietnam with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division from 23 June 1969 through 14 September 1967.
4. The applicant was honorably released from active duty on 17 December 1968. His DD Form 214 lists his awards as the Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device (1960), and the Sharpshooter Marksmanship Qualification Badge with Rifle Bar.
5. His DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) provides the following information:
a. block 39 (Campaigns) shows participation during two campaign periods in Vietnam;
b. block 40 (Wounds) is blank; and
c. block 41 (Awards and Decorations) shows the Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with one bronze service star, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device (1960), Sharpshooter Marksmanship Qualification Badge with Rifle Bar (M-16), and the Marksman Marksmanship Qualification Badge with Rifle Bar (M-14).
6. A review of the Vietnam Casualty List failed to locate the applicant's name.
7. During the processing of this case, a member for the Board staff reviewed the Awards and Decorations Computer Assisted Retrieval System (ADCARS) maintained by the Military Awards Branch of the United States Army Human Resources Command (HRC), which is an index of general orders issued during the Vietnam era between 1965 and 1973. This review failed to reveal any Purple Heart orders on file for the applicant.
8. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides, in pertinent part, that the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained while in action against an enemy or as a result of hostile action. Substantiating evidence must be provided to verify that the wound was the result of hostile action, the wound must have required treatment by medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. The record contains no documentation nor has the applicant provided any documentation to show that he was wounded in action against an enemy force, received treatment by medical personnel for such a wound, or that any medical treatment was made a matter of official record.
2. In order to justify correction of a military record the applicant must show to the satisfaction of the Board, or it must otherwise satisfactorily appear, that the record is in error or unjust. The applicant has failed to submit evidence that would satisfy this requirement.
BOARD VOTE:
________ ________ ________ GRANT FULL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING
_____X___ ___X____ ___X___ DENY APPLICATION
BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:
The evidence presented does not demonstrate the existence of a probable error or injustice. Therefore, the Board determined that the overall merits of this case are insufficient as a basis for correction of the records of the individual concerned.
_________X_____________
CHAIRPERSON
I certify that herein is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in this case.
ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20080011549
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